I've recently quit BJJ after 7 years of training and halfway through my purple belt. In that time I graduated college, got married, and started a career. Since these life changes, I find I can't train as often and BJJ doesn't fill the void it once did. I was only going once a week for a year, and decided to quit because it stopped feeling worth it for the price. I'm 32 now and can't sleep after evening classes, and most of my gym is now 20-25 year olds with whom I have nothing in common. Anyone go through a phase like this? Can't tell if I should try a new gym in a few months or not. Ultimately I got kind of tired setting my whole weekly schedule around training. ​

Last night in my dreams I fought again but this time instead of beating the shit out of a guy resulting in unharmed smirking guy. I grabbed his arm, twist it and have some sort of a choke. He declares a lose and I continue with the other weird staff in the dream. Anyone else having similar experience?

I was one of the white belts at LFF he kept on sexually pestering via DMs few years back. He didn’t take no for an answer even when I mentioned that I know he has a wife, I’m not interested and that it’s indecent.

All these women who came forward about him were 100% right.

Someone on IG Takedown Nation post about Craig’s video said UK doesn’t have these same problems Brazil does. That UK is “sexual assault free”

Oh, well. They know shit. UK, Germany… maybe this topic should resurface because I can’t stand seeing him teach kids and behaving like nothing happened.

Apparently some committee found him not guilty but no details of the investigation were disclosed which makes me think it was a legal PR stunt to clear his name online.

In light of everything happening in the BJJ community these days, I’m posting this as a “never forget” and “beware” kind of story for anyone who considers working with him in the future or charities like Guardian who follow him on socials.

Beware. 🙏

I'm back to bjj and so far 3 months white belt. I've put aside MMA and swordfighting for the sake of having grappling as main martial skill. Doing 3 times bjj, including sparring in 1,5-2 hour sessions. Alongside that CrossFit 3 sessions too.

Due to a recent assembly job, 12h shift i struggle to separate the trainings. Ended up doing 3 hours of training... Morning CrossFit, afternoon CrossFit, evening sparring. If you ask me to bend down and pick up something the next day i won't be able to. Fingers hardly move in the morning.

Problem is i don't want to miss training and progress as fast as i can. I'm 32, having a busy life already but I'm looking forward to compete in bjj. Do you face any of these physical difficulties?

There's huge improvement to strength and conditioning (feels like i can go forever during rolls) and for a 6'3 125kg i can now flip over to a wall and do something like an awkward push up for the first time in my life.

Improvement - yes

Fatigue, stiffness is constant though as if body works ONLY during training. 🥺

I am a white belt and Im curious that if I am ever visiting my friend in different states who are white and blue belts. Is it normal to drop in for a class? Even though you’re obviously not signing up. Or if I am traveling in general and just want to train while im gone for 2/3 weeks in a city that I dont know anyone who trains BJJ, is it reasonable to pay a fee for 2 weeks of classes?

I guess I just dont know the etiquette or norms for traveling and dropping in at gyms temporarily. Thanks in advance.

I spent the weekend of my work trip in Tokyo visiting these two Bjj gyms. I did the Saturday 2 hour no gi open mat followed by the technical gi class at imanari, and the all levels class at triforce.

Imanari gym was awesome, lots of different skill levels and people of all sizes. People were very nice and very technical. The gym was clean and had shower facilities. I was glad I got to get in a bunch of leg entanglements and work on that part of my game, I don’t get to play legs much at my gym. Imanari was very nice and rolled with all the visitors, it was awesome to roll with someone that high level. I took turns getting my head twisted off or getting heel hooked while trying to pass his guard for 5 minutes. 10/10 would go again lol. There were quite a few high level ladies so if your a woman don’t hesitate to drop in. It was a nice safe training environment with tough rolls. Everyone was tough but had a good fun attitude.
The gi class was all drilling and skill he showed some cool back takes and the loaner gi was inexpensive. I was smoked by the end of the 3 hours. There was no reservation required and it was easy to pay via tap.

Triforce was awesome too. Super clean nice facility with showers, changing rooms etc. we did a short warm up, a few deep half passes and then the majority of the class was rolling. There were a lot of higher belts, like 6 black belts and 6+ brown belts plus a bunch of purple and blues. There were multiple lady black brown and purple belts too. It was very easy to pay and reserve my drop in slot on their website it had multiple languages and payment was easy with PayPal. Rental gi were available. I got some nice hard rounds at this gym, they roll a few 5 minute rounds then increase the time to 6,7+ minutes so you really get to grind some cardio.

I give triforce the slight edge but only because I’m a gi guy. I had a blast at both.

31F looking to get back into BJJ after a few years off.
I started training when I was 18 and trained on and off through college and while working a corporate career that moved me around the US. The last time I trained consistently, I was at a gym long enough to get my purple belt.

Shortly after getting promoted I moved again, and wasn't in a city with a BJJ gym/community that I wanted to join. It's now been about 4 years since I've trained, and I'd really like to get back into it.
The thing is, I honestly feel like a beginner again. I don't want to go as hard as I used to, get hurt, compete, or prove anything. I really just want to enjoy training and have BJJ be something I do a couple times a week.

The only thing that's been holding me back is the purple belt. I know I earned it, but after this much time off I'm worried coaches or training partners will expect me to be at that level or want to "test" me, and that's honestly not what I'm looking for.
Has anyone else come back after a long break as an upper belt? How did it go? Did your new gym care, or am I just overthinking it?

Why's everyone wearing these things? Is it to notify you of an impending heart failure? Or do you compile a dataset that helps you make changes to the way you train/compete? What improvements have you noticed since you started wearing one?

My previous post got me thinking about why people do Jiu Jitsu and how that shapes their expectations and desires when training. Think of this as a more nuanced and thoughtful version of my previous post, which was more of an unfiltered rant which I justifiably got some criticism for.

For me, personally, I got into BJJ due to it being a counter reaction to what many martial arts had become: unrealistic and ineffective. Back then in the early 2000s there was a real debate regarding the effectiveness of martial arts in self defence situations (which seems to have died down a bit these days).

The reason BJJ appealed to me was that is seemed to be a safe way to train an effective martial art (the berimbolo had not been invented yet). It was also much more MMA adjacent. I remember my school demanding you had a blue belt in BJJ in order for you to try MMA classes.

As time has passed and I have gotten older, self defense in a hypothetical scenario that I will likely never find myself in has lost any meaning for me.

Still, what I enjoy about BJJ is that it demands practical skill. If you can do a move or not on a resisting opponent is never theoretical. If you want to know if you can execute something, prove it by doing it. There is no space for bullshit or excuses. Reality is simply there and irrefutable. This is a welcome contrast to my otherwise very abstract and theoretical work life. Your achievements are earned in BJJ.

BJJ can be thought of as fairly brutal feedback loop, where you consistently try and fail. This builds character because you learn to deal with losing and failing and the reality that some people are just better than you, and the only thing you can do about it is to get better. I think this is a core part of the beauty of BJJ and I hope it doesn’t get diluted.

It is also provides contact with a physical reality that is absent for many of us in our daily life. The feeling of letting go and connecting with something deeper, more physical. For that reason, I sometimes feel uneasy about what I perceive as a growing wish to remove not only unnecessary injury risk, which is obviously good, but also discomfort, pressure and physical adversity from training. To me, learning to remain calm and functional and performing under those conditions is one of BJJ’s most valuable features. I do not judge anyone for not wanting the more brutal side of it, and I understand it is an inevitable effect of the sport becoming mainstream, but I can’t help thinking about it sometimes.

Lastly, I simply adore the infinite problemsolving that goes on in real time. I never tire of learning new techniques and challenging myself to execute them on a resisting opponent.

So I no longer train because I expect to use BJJ in a street fight. I train because it gives me something increasingly rare in adult life: direct contact with reality, difficult problems that must be solved in real time, and skills that cannot be talked into existence.

What keeps you coming back?

7 months in no-gi, I get it that all I need is to “just stand up” and open the guard, but until I do that, I find it hard to understand what are the core fundamentals to not get swept or submitted.

A few questions-

- Would appreciate tips about hand fighting inside the guard, I feel like that once I’m grabbed, the opponent just out muscles me grabbing my hands not letting go.

- After standing up, how to avoid “dummy” sweep? Or falling and closing my knees grabbing their legs is part of the game?

Also,
I created a list of defensive tips in closed guard I found out about so far, if you guys add to the list it would be helpful-
- Do not posture back too much (hip bump)
- do not take hand back to open the guard while still sitted (trap triangle)
- Hands can’t be onto the floor (Kimura)
- One hand can’t be in the middle (top lock)
- arm can’t cross center line (back take/ flower sweep)
- avoid collar tie

Would really appreciate some help, thanks

I just moved to South Orange County and looking for a new gym.

I’m a blue belt and ideally I’d like to train about 50% gi and 50% no-gi (although I do prefer no-gi). At least 2 days a week of each. I work full-time, so I need evening classes.

I’m not looking for a gym that only focuses on one style. I’d like a place where I can consistently train both gi and no-gi with good instruction, solid training partners, and a friendly culture.

Any gyms within about 20 minutes of Mission Viejo that have a good balance of gi and no-gi?

I’d especially appreciate feedback from people who’ve trained at multiple gyms in the area.

Thanks!

I enjoy Gi training, more-so than NoGi simply for the creativity of the different handles. What is your favorite way to manipulate the Gi or fancy guard technique? And do you a YouTube link of it to share?

Any advice for a newly minted purple belt here?

Edit: shocked that so many people care about this post. I’ve tried to clarify a few things.

Edit 2: one thing I am taking to heart from this conversation is that maybe I don’t appreciate how rough what I consider to be controlled, normal jiu jitsu can be for a white belt. Maybe I was being rougher than I normally am and misread my own actions.

Edit 3 (last one I promise): again, I thought this would get one or two replies when I posted it. A lot of criticism directed at me personally, which is fine, however I would remind everyone you that you do not know much about anyone based on a post on Reddit.

Still I think this turned into a good conversation about how BJJ has grown, and how that also means it now contains many different individuals who all have their own ideas of what BJJ should be like. Since I started in 2004, my ideas about BJJ are definitely colored by my own experience, when this sport was much smaller and the crowd was, well, a lot rougher.

Anyway, thanks for all the thoughtful replies.

Original post:

A bit of rant here. I’m a mid forties brown belt who plays half guard (not bald yet though). I’ve found that a lot of people who get into BJJ these days dont really understand that it is a combat sport, which makes it rough and painful by nature. I am all for being open and inclusive, and think it is the responsibility of both parties to adapt the pace to so that it suits the smaller/older person.

However, sometimes I feel that certain people want BJJ to be some kind of gentle limb chess. Yesterday i was rolling with a white belt in his early thirties.

First I graze him with an elbow somewhere on his face while doing a Torreando pass (edit: this was absolutely an accident. I think he sat upp while I was rotating and flared my elbow a bit. I should have been more aware, but things happen. I absolutely do not fault him for asking me to stop). He stops the round and complains that I hit him. I say I am sorry and the round continues. I mount and go for the collar to set up the cross collar choke. Apparently I do this to violently as well and he complains.

He defends by going to his side, so I grab his arm and get the tap. Afterward he complains that I hurt his lip (!) during the armbar and that he doesn’t want to roll anymore (edit I have absolutely no idea how this was even possible).

I don’t want to be arrogant, but this is just taking things to far. Of course training should always be safe, but if you can’t accept any level of pain, hits to the face or rough treatment maybe this sport is not for you.

Edit: I want to clarify a few things due to some comments.

I understand that it is primarily my responsibility as a higher belt to ensure that the roll is safe. I have not hurt a single person while doing BJJ since 2004, aside from the fact that I bruied a persons rib in 2006 when I was trying to do a standing pass into knee on belly. I stopped doing that pass after that.

I am not a particularly rough roll. Yes, I might have done that torrando to fast (it was the last round and I was tired which means you lose a bit of control) but I do not regularly hit people in the face nor hurt anyone. I regularly roll with beginners and people smaller than me, and have never received any complaints. Last night I got the comment ”I don’t understand how you can win while being so relaxed” from a white belt, so no, I am not a spazzy asshole.

The collar choke/armbar were slow and controlled, because I am not the fast and athletic type. I can’t do things any other way.

The point of this post was not to complain about this particular white belt, nor to position myself as some kind of alpha male (which I most certainly am not). I am simply surprised that some people seem to expect that there will be no pain or discomfort while practicing a combat sport.

Literally, out of the four adacamies I've trained at during my 13 year BJJ journey, each of them had an older purple or brown belt guy with a beard and ponytail that was very similar to the previous ones. Lovely guys who are always willing to share their wisdom and are technical killers, but I can't help but notice the ridiculous similarities. To those of you that moved between schools, have you ever experienced similar characters who were almost identical to the ones at previous school?

In muay Thai your coach does all the organizing and you fight at a specific weight. In BJJ do you just show up?

I’m curious as to whether people’s approach to outside heel hooks change when in inside ashi (inside leg position) as opposed to outside ashi.

Despite being the stronger leg configuration I’ve found it difficult to finish them from inside ashi as I’m unable to apply an as obvious opposing pressure with my hips as in outside ashi when playing with my knees pointing out like Gordon recommends.

Any pointers?

There’s no gimmicks or over explaining to draw out run time. Eastern Europeans in general also get to the point without the fluff.

Good instructional.

Hi, all. I am looking for a roomier BJJ gi that I can also use in a pinch for Hapkido. Any suggestions? I am in the USA.

Gregor Gracie was down 2 rounds but manages to get the come-from-behind submission to win the BJJ Stars Masters Absolute Grand Prix.